Spirit City, late at night.
The quiet room deep within the Pope's Palace was unlit.
Bibi Dong sat by the window, moonlight filtering through the cracks in the window frame and falling on her lap.
The Pope robes had been removed, leaving him in only a long black dress, the hem of which trailed to the ground like a frozen shadow.
Outside the window, the sacred fire in the palm of the Angel God Statue is still burning.
A golden halo emanated from the statue, spreading outwards and bathing the entire city in a warm hue.
But the light did not shine into the room.
The place where she sat was right at the boundary between light and darkness.
Half of his face was illuminated by the sacred fire, while the other half remained hidden in darkness.
She raised her hand and looked at her palm.
This hand has killed many people.
Qian Xunji, the former Pope, and countless enemies standing in the way of the Spirit Hall.
She never regretted it.
But then she suddenly remembered that long ago, this hand had done other things too; it had been held, grasped, and pulled out of the ruins.
At that time, she wasn't called Bibi Dong yet.
She was just an orphan from an unknown little village in the Star Luo Empire.
Her parents were killed by Evil Soul Master. She hid under the corpses of her loved ones, covered in blood, too afraid to make a sound.
The Evil Soul Master left, but she dared not come out.
She waited all day, until night fell, until a man in a white robe appeared in the ruins.
His white robes were stained with the black blood of Evil Soul Master, and golden wings, carrying a glimmer of hope, stretched behind him.
At that time, she felt that he was God.
Are there any survivors?
She didn't dare to answer.
But her body was trembling, and the rubble was making a sound.
The man walked over, cleared away the rubble, and saw her.
"Don't be afraid, child, the Spirit Hall will protect you."
She knelt before him and kowtowed three times, drawing blood from her forehead.
The man didn't help her up; he just stood there and accepted her kneeling.
She later learned that the man's name was Qian Xunji.
He didn't come specifically to save her; he was eliminating Evil Soul Master, building up his prestige, and preparing to succeed as Pope.
Her village was merely a line in his record of achievements.
But she didn't care. He saved her and gave her a way to live; that was enough.
At that time, she didn't know that the path this man paved for her led to an abyss.
Qian Xunji took her back to the Spirit Hall.
Qian Daoliu stood beneath the Angel God Statue, gazing at the girl covered in blood, thin as a kitten, for a long time.
His gaze lingered on her, his brow furrowing almost imperceptibly. He sensed something, but he said nothing.
"Take her to be settled in." That was all he said.
The Spirit Hall gave her new clothes, a new name, and a new identity.
And that's how Bibi Dong arrived.
She began to learn to read, to live a new life, and to practice spiritual cultivation.
Everyone in the Spirit Hall treated her very well, or at least she thought it was good.
She laughed more and more often, and her laughter became more and more genuine; she thought this was home.
On the day her Martial Soul Awakening, a dark aura surged from her body.
Two phantom spiders appeared behind her, one purple and one black, ferocious and eerie, completely out of place with the sanctity of the Spirit Hall.
Everyone else left, but Qian Xunji did not.
He stood before her, his eyes shining as he gazed at the spider-like Martial Soul behind her.
" Twin Martial Souls? Innate Full Soul Power?"
He turned to Qian Daoliu and said, "Father, I will accept this disciple."
Qian Daoliu stared at the pair of dark spider Martial Soul, pondered for a moment, and then glanced at the Angel God Statue.
" Martial Soul have no inherent good or evil, only strength or weakness. Teach her well."
Qian Xunji.
Qian Daoliu turned and walked away, but after a few steps, he stopped and looked back.
He didn't read Qian Xunji; he read Bibi Dong.
The girl stood in the center of the Martial Soul Awakening Array, with a dark spider phantom behind her, but a bright smile on her face.
She didn't know what she was laughing at; she just felt that she was finally useful, that she was no longer the orphan hiding under a corpse.
Qian Daoliu withdrew his gaze and left.
Qian Xunji did teach her a lot, and made her truly feel a sense of belonging to a family.
He imparted all his knowledge to me, including Martial Soul Theory, combat skills, and Soul Power cultivation.
She called him "teacher" sincerely.
On the day she was canonized as a saint, Qian Xunji stood beneath the Angel God Statue and said to everyone:
"She is the future of the Spirit Hall."
Standing behind him, looking at the enormous statue, she felt she had finally found a place to belong.
She thought it was a kindness from her teacher, a matter of fate, and a compensation from destiny for losing her parents.
She was wrong.
Years later, Qian Xunji's gaze changed.
It's no longer about teachers looking at students, or elders looking at younger generations.
It's the possessiveness a man has when he looks at a woman.
Beneath the Angel Holy Light, a dark and filthy heart was born.
At first, she didn't know; she thought she was just overthinking it.
Even that night, she was still troubled, wondering why Yu Xiaogang had suddenly left.
He summoned her to a secret underground chamber in the Pope's Palace, closed the door, and sealed all exits with Angel Holy Light.
She resisted, but she wasn't strong enough.
The Olympic flame still burns outside the window, but it can no longer warm her.
The Rakshasa Divine Sense first found her from this underground chamber.
It whispered in the darkness, "You are in pain." She did not answer.
"I can give you strength so that you will never have to listen to anyone again."
She closed the door, but the crack was already there.
She didn't know how long she was imprisoned until her belly gradually grew bigger, and then she gave birth to a baby girl.
She was released as a result, but she was no longer the same person she used to be.
She sealed her heart from then on, devoting herself to cultivation, even requesting to go to the Slaughter City, all in order to gain strength as quickly as possible.
At the same time, I don't want to see that little girl; seeing her reminds me of what happened to me.
Perhaps it was fate's arrangement, but later, for her sake, Qian Xunji wanted to capture the transformed Blue Silver Emperor to add a new Soul Ring to her Second Martial Soul.
Unexpectedly, he returned severely injured. Taking advantage of Qian Daoliu's departure from Spirit City, Bibi Dong...
She killed Qian Xunji with her own hands, the very hands he had once held.
She stood before him, looking at the face that had once filled her with gratitude, then fear, and finally disgust, without hesitation.
At the same time, he also devoured his Angel Martial Soul through his Second Martial Soul and successfully entered into Rakshasa's embrace.
Later, Qian Daoliu rushed back from out of town, heard the tragic news, and looked at her for a long time.
He didn't ask her why, nor did he seek revenge for his son.
She smiled, but the smile was devoid of warmth. "You don't hate me?"
Qian Daoliu did not answer. He turned around and walked back to the Worship Hall.
Later, Qian Daoliu supported her in becoming Pope.
The scene flashed by, Bibi Dong stood up and walked to the window.
The moonlight shone on her face, mingling with the light of the sacred fire, creating a scene of half-light and half-darkness.
She looked at the Angel God Statue, at the statue that had overlooked Spirit City for a thousand years, at the spot where Qian Daoliu had once stood.
She suddenly remembered the little girl kneeling and kowtowing in the ruins.
If she had known that the white-robed man who saved her would push her into the abyss, would she still have kowtowed three times?
But she didn't let the thought linger for long.
She reached out and pressed her hand against the window frame, her fingertips turning white from the pressure.
The Rakshasa Divine Sense surged within her, as if responding to her emotions.
She pressed it down.
That's not enough.
She turned and walked into the darkness.
The sacred fire of the Angel God Statue was still burning, but it no longer illuminated her at all.